October 25, 2017

Unsteady Progress Towards Unified Customer Data

We saw last Friday that Tylenol is eager to let you know they’re watching your every move. The folks at Acxiom-owned LiveRamp are more discreet even though their ambition is broader: nothing less than a “universal, people-based identifier” to track people across all devices in all media. They’ve just made their IdentityLink IDs available to ad agencies, completing a plan that has already made them available to brands, technology platforms, data owners, and publishers.

Of course, a truly complete view of each customer takes more than buying some data from LiveRamp. To give an idea of the challenge: a CMO Council survey for SAP Hybris found just 23% of marketing leaders have a comprehensive view of customer data from across their organization. Lack of actionable insights from data and analytics was the number one roadblock to delivering a seamless customer experience.

We can’t discuss customer data without mentioning privacy. Or maybe we can: 57% of respondents to a Spiceworks survey seem to be ignoring it, insofar as they said their company hasn’t allocated budget to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which will take effect next May, or they don’t know if funds are allocated. The rate is 69% for North American companies, which are only affected if they store data about EU persons. But it’s also 44% for companies in Europe, where there’s no doubt the regulations and their stiff non-compliance penalties will apply. Incidentally, the report has cool interactive features that let you break down answers by region and company size. It also has a pirate theme.

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